The Air Quality Blog by Rabbit Air

New York magazine recently went on a quest for clean air in their article “The Best Air Purifier for Allergy Season, According to Allergists” in their May 1st issue. After consulting with allergists, they named the winner: Rabbit Air’s very own BioGS 2.0!

The allergists the editors reached out to recommended HEPA filtration over ionizers to remove even the smallest of allergens. HEPA filtration is used in all of Rabbit Air’s air purifiers and traps particles at 0.3 microns at a 99.97% efficiency.

The article dubs the BioGS 2.0 the “Mercedes of air purifiers.” We at Rabbit Air are thrilled to be compared to the top tier of quality and design. The editors go on to note how quiet and efficient it is as the air purifier seamlessly changes fan speeds when detecting particles in the air.

Thank you New York magazinefor sharing Rabbit Air with your readers! Grab yourself a copy (or read it here), cozy into your reading corner, and let New York magazine and Rabbit Air help you relax and breathe easily.

A list of allergy symptoms that can turn spring into a terrifying season.

Spring: A Curse and a Blessing

It’s that time of the year again: spring, the season of hope and new beginnings. For some, however, it’s the season of despair, and those beautiful, blooming flowers can only mean one thing: it’s allergy season. Lots of people struggle with allergies, and the first whiff of pollen will have them running for the hills.

Unfortunately for this demographic, the allergen forecast for 2015 does not look good. New York Magazine has predicted a “Pollen Tsunami” caused by high levels of winter precipitation, a late spring bloom, and record temperature highs this summer.

This is virtually a nightmare for anyone with allergies, and people should expect higher pharmacy sales and traffic as Americans stock up on Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec in anticipation of the season’s horrors.

So what are the absolute worst effects of allergy season? What symptoms will have you hiding indoors, covering yourself in blankets, and attempting to hibernate until fall? Here are one reporter’s seven worst allergy symptoms, paired with examples of what you might have to deal with if you’re one of the unlucky few who suffer from allergies.

Six Terrible Symptoms

1. Itching

One of the worst, as well as the most universal allergy symptom is — you guessed it — itching. What could be worse than going on a nice date on a spring afternoon, soaking up the sun in your local park with a potential romantic companion, and all of a sudden feeling a nasty itch creep up your arm?

Suddenly, you’re beset by the unbearable urge to scratch yourself until the excruciating pain stops. What’s distressing is that scratching won’t help cure the discomfort — only antihistamines will do the trick. And it only gets worse.

2. Headaches

Headaches are “caused by nasal congestion,” says the ACAAI. They make you cranky and irritable, they’re distracting, and they’re often nearly impossible to get rid of. While Advil, Tylenol, or Aspirin might help ease the effects, medicine can only go so far. Be prepared to excuse yourself from the dinner table so that you can quietly cry in a corner, because allergy headaches are downright awful.

3. Snoring

All that congestion means you probably won’t be able to breathe out of your nose, which also means you’ll have to start breathing out of your mouth, and eventually, you’re going to start snoring. People won’t want to sit near a creepy mouth-breather, let alone sleep next to one.

The sniffles are perhaps the most subtle, yet infuriating of allergy symptoms — whether you’re the serial sniffler or just in the vicinity of one. Having a stuffed-up nose is no fun, especially when it’s for an entire season. The ACAII explains how this symptom can come from either “outdoor allergens, such as pollens from grass, trees, and weeds,” or “indoor allergens, such as pet hair or dander, dust mites and mold.”

4. Sneezing

Be sure to have Kleenex on hand at all times, because you’re about to become a snot machine. You’ll probably set personal records for how many times you can sneeze in a row — why not keep track and try to beat your own record?

5. Swelling

Beyond your red, scratchy eyes, you might also have to worry about your face swelling up to enormous proportions. Surprise — swelling doesn’t look good on anyone. But don’t worry: according to Pollen.com, allergies are just “your body's defense system (the immune system) overreact[ing] when defending itself.”

6. Pharmacy Bills

Perhaps the worst thing of all is the fact that anytime one of these many symptoms emerges, you’ll be sprinting to the medicine cabinet to grab a new pill or some anti-itching cream to help you. Be ready to make friends with your local pharmacist — and to drop half of your paycheck on pills. For tips on environmental control, the ACAAI has some great recommendations for keeping your allergy symptoms at bay.

If devouring medicine isn’t your thing, consider one of Rabbit Air’s high-quality air purifiers — they’ll protect you from the hazards of allergy season and give you some clean space to breath in. An air purifier might be your best bet against misery and social exile.

Everybody knows that New York City’s air is questionable at best, but you may be surprised by some of the things this scientist found fluttering around the city’s streets.

Take a deep breath. Smell that fresh spring air? Chances are, if you live in New York City, the answer to that question is an immediate and resounding “no.”

Scientist, author, and seasoned air expert, Bill Logan, recently conducted an experiment to determine what exactly New Yorkers are breathing in on a daily basis. The results revealed a surprisingly wide range of materials — in addition to the expected pollutants like pollen, exhaust fumes, and dust.

Interestingly enough, air content can paint a remarkably accurate picture of a specific neighborhood’s cultural and commercial makeup. For example, the air in particularly diverse neighborhoods, like Midtown, contained skin cells from a wide variety of races, while Chinatown air was full of fat and starch from all of the Chinese food restaurants in the area.

Intriguing correlations aside, some of the findings were just downright nasty. Let’s take a look at some of the weirder things found floating through the streets of the five boroughs.

Something in the Air

As Logan moved throughout the city with his homemade air quality tester, according to the New Daily News, he discovered the presence of a wide variety of materials, each more interesting than the next.

His first stop was beautiful Brooklyn Heights, an affluent, residential neighborhood west of Downtown Brooklyn. The air here was full of fat molecules — likely from the kitchens of the neighborhood’s many restaurants and bars. The area is also in close proximity to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which meant that the air contained tiny bits of rubber and silica glass. Yikes.

The now-trendy Williamsburg, tested positive for bits of denim and other natural fibers, nail polish, pollen, and even human hair — unsurprising, considering the overwhelming abundance of hipsters in the neighborhood.

The blocks surrounding Times Square — full of cars and humans — were unsurprisingly teeming with dead skin cells, soot, tire rubber, and carbon from automobile exhaust. Meanwhile, the air in the South Bronx was saturated with noxious fumes, like carbon, diesel exhaust, and bits of rubber.

And in East Elmhurst, Queens, Logan detected significant samples of rust spores, miniature glass fragments, carbon exhaust, and even flecks of insect exoskeletons.

With all of these strange and occasionally toxic materials floating around, it’s no wonder that the asthma rate in New York City is higher than in any other major city in the United States, as the New York Timesreports.

In fact, a study indicated that in Central Harlem, up to one in four children suffer from the disease. To put that into perspective, there are no well-known case studies indicating levels above 20% anywhere else in the country.

Pick Your Battles

While we certainly can’t control the air floating through the city streets, we can exercise a certain amount of control over the indoor air quality (IAQ) of our own homes and workspaces. If you consider the fact that most Americans spend up to 90% of their time indoors (according to the EPA), improving IAQ is more critical than ever — especially if you’re a New Yorker, or a citizen of any metropolitan area, for that matter.

Particulate matter like dust, haze, and smoke enter your living spaces through poorly ventilated or sealed off rooms, negatively affecting your IAQ. If there are cracks in your windows and doors or openings in your air vents, your home isn’t adequately protecting you from the dangers of the urban outdoors.

Cutting-edge air filtration systems, like those offered by Rabbit Air, are simple, powerful tools that can help you in the battle against unhealthy air. Rabbit Air purifiers employ a four-stage filtration system that will capture the smallest and most “unique” particles the Big Apple has to offer, making the space around you safer, healthier, and toxin-free.